American conductor Christopher Zimmerman, music director of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra in the US, will lead a concert at the HCM City Opera House on October 26. (Photo courtesy of HBSO) HCM City (VNS/VNA) - American conductorChristopher Zimmerman, music director of Fairfax Symphony Orchestra in the US,will lead a concert of classical music at the HCM City Opera House onOctober 26.
The concert’s highlight will be Concerto Grosso No 1 writtenby Russian-born German composer Alfred Schnittke in 1976-1977.
The six-movement work premiered in 1977 in Leningrad. The premiere featuredviolinists Gidon Kremer and Tatiana Grindenko and the Leningrad ChamberOrchestra under the baton of Estonian conductor Eri Klas.
The 30-minute performance in HCM City will feature two of Vietnam’s leadingviolinists Vu Viet Chuong and Bui Cong Duy, who will perform along withthe HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO).
Chuong earned a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in violin performance from theUniversity of Houston, and a doctorate from the University of North Texas.
He has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in the US and Vietnam includingthe San Angelo Symphony, Odysseus Chamber Orchestra, the RichardsonSymphony Orchestra, Hanoi Symphony Orchestra and HBSO.
Chuong, who has also performed at international music festivals in the US,UK and Brazil, is co-founder of the Vietnam Connection Music Festival,which attracts leading classical artists from Vietnam and around theworld.
Duy, 38, is a graduate of the Tchaikovsky National Music College in Moscow. Hewon first prize and the gold medal at the International TchaikovskyCompetition for Young Musicians in St Petersburg in 1997.
He has performed at concerts in many European and Asian countries, as well asin prestigious halls such as Berliner Symphoniker in German andCapella Concert Hall in Russia.
Since 2015, he has been deputy rector for concert activities at the VietnamNational Academy of Music, artistic director of the Vietnam Classical Playersand executive director of the Vietnam Connection Music Festival.
The concert will include Appalachian Spring orchestral suiteby American composer Aaron Copland.
Copland wrote the composition for the ballet of the same name atthe request of American choreographer and dancer Martha Graham. The balletpremiered in 1944. A year later, Copland rearranged the ballet as anorchestral suite for 13 instruments.
The performance will feature HBSO soloists including Meritorious Artistand cellist Nguyen Tan Anh, violist Pham Vu Thien Bao and violinist Tang ThanhNam.
The concert will also include Fantasia on a Theme by ThomasTallis by British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, and excerptsfrom Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky.
Conductor Zimmerman graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts inMusic, and received his Master’s degree from the University ofMichigan. He has worked with numerous orchestras, such as the RoyalPhilharmonic Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra of the UK, Prague SymphonyOrchestra and National Orchestra of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
Zimmerman was formerly the music director of the Symphony of Southeast Texas,the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and the City of London Chamber Orchestra.
Since 2009, he has been music director of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, whichwas the winner of the Best Classical Orchestra Ensemble given by the WashingtonDC Area Musical Awards 2013./.
VNA